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Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

polygon.com

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Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#21

Post by okeuro49 »

maximilianroos wrote: post #12

Getting laid off in December is tough. But it's better than getting laid off in January after coming back to work from holidays, with plans for the year ahead. At least this way, folks can recuperate with their family, and then hit the job market in January. Or do others disagree?

If you are not the type of person who can switch off worries, it will cast a shadow over what is supposed to be a happy time.

I think Charles Dickens wrote a Christmas themed book on the topic of a heartless businessman, who acted much the same to his employees.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#22

Post by jay_kyburz »

no_wizard wrote: post #2

My heart goes out to those affected. Thats very rough. I know this isn't directly related to the article at hand or anything either, but I feel like I'm seeing a real uptick in November / December layoffs. Is it just me or was it really not a thing companies did with such frequency around the holidays? I feel like its as much a shedding of costs as it is a flex of big business trying to show strength because they all…

I'm really surprised magic is still so strong. The designers must be doing a great job of keeping the game fresh and interesting.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#23

Post by nradov »

maximilianroos wrote: post #12

Getting laid off in December is tough. But it's better than getting laid off in January after coming back to work from holidays, with plans for the year ahead. At least this way, folks can recuperate with their family, and then hit the job market in January. Or do others disagree?

It's easier to get hired quickly in January. A lot of publicly traded companies that have their fiscal years aligned to calendar years institute hiring freezes in Q4 in order to make their annual financial statements look better. Plus a lot of the key internal recruiters and hiring managers take PTO in December so interviews and decisions get delayed. Activity tends to pick up again in January.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#24

Post by ryandrake »

Macha wrote: post #19
maximilianroos wrote: post #12

Getting laid off in December is tough. But it's better than getting laid off in January after coming back to work from holidays, with plans for the year ahead. At least this way, folks can recuperate with their family, and then hit the job market in January. Or do others disagree?

It's easy to view it this way when you're a highly paid software worker, but the average worker in a plastic toy or board game factory is unlikely to have much runway so pretty much needs to start searching immediately with news like that. Factory workers also are not going to be getting the kind of severance packages software devs get.

> Factory workers also are not going to be getting the kind of severance packages software devs get.

We get severance packages?

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#25

Post by hamandcheese »

throwing_away wrote: post #15
maximilianroos wrote: post #12

Getting laid off in December is tough. But it's better than getting laid off in January after coming back to work from holidays, with plans for the year ahead. At least this way, folks can recuperate with their family, and then hit the job market in January. Or do others disagree?

Strong disagree. For anyone who makes enough to be getting severance, it's better to have it in the new tax year.

Ignorant question - is severance typically paid lump sum?

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#26

Post by iisan7 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #18
maximilianroos wrote: post #12

Getting laid off in December is tough. But it's better than getting laid off in January after coming back to work from holidays, with plans for the year ahead. At least this way, folks can recuperate with their family, and then hit the job market in January. Or do others disagree?

Higher level, this is why I support employees unionizing. Yes, it is not lolipops and rainbows. Yes, there is a change in dynamic. But if we're going to accept corporations are okay to act as psychopaths, then labor should organize to be the lawnmower the same way tech folks joke about Oracle. The knife should cut both ways. Otherwise, management and shareholders are just going to keep operating in this manner and tr…

A union wouldn't push to move layoffs to January, they would push to prevent layoffs at all. Which is maybe what you're advocating, but not what the parent post was saying.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#27

Post by xnx »

maximilianroos wrote: post #12

Getting laid off in December is tough. But it's better than getting laid off in January after coming back to work from holidays, with plans for the year ahead. At least this way, folks can recuperate with their family, and then hit the job market in January. Or do others disagree?

Disagree. It's better to get laid off after any paid holidays.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#28

Post by oflannabhra »

Hasbro is essentially upside down, with huge losses across all their brands being subsidized by enormous growth from their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. Even with that growth, they are significantly down.

There was a big investor push recently (led by Alta Fox) to get Hasbro to spin WotC out into an independent company [0], which failed. The big concern being that forcing growth on those properties (Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons) to continue to support failed strategies with legacy properties could risk ruining those properties through mismanagement for short-term gains.

I really don't know where Hasbro goes from here. I don't think the toy market will ever recover, and the board game world has completely passed by properties like Monopoly. Chris Cocks, the CEO is the former head of WotC, so I'm hoping there is some level of understanding of stewardship of the WotC properties, but I'm really not confident. Even the recent D&D movie was disappointing from a business perspective (although surprisingly wonderful for fans). They also have a huge success in Baldur's Gate 3, although it is also disappointing from a monetization perspective. Even those recent lukewarm wins are within the WotC umbrella.

[0] - https://www.wargamer.com/dnd/hasbro-wins-wizards-of-the-coas...

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#29

Post by ghaff »

wharvle wrote: post #20
maximilianroos wrote: post #12

Getting laid off in December is tough. But it's better than getting laid off in January after coming back to work from holidays, with plans for the year ahead. At least this way, folks can recuperate with their family, and then hit the job market in January. Or do others disagree?

You know how it’s like impossible to get anything done in companies from about Dec 1 through Jan 15th? Because everyone’s taking time off, winding things down before taking time off, or ramping back up after coming back? Now consider what that does to a job search.

Yeah, leaving aside any "ruining the holidays" angle, it basically means you're adding an additional month before there's a point in doing much about even starting to look for a job.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#30

Post by StormChaser_5 »

hamandcheese wrote: post #25
throwing_away wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong disagree. For anyone who makes enough to be getting severance, it's better to have it in the new tax year.

Ignorant question - is severance typically paid lump sum?

Yes. Or at least here in Ireland
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